BBFC category cuts were required for a 15 rated cinema release in 2018. Uncut and MPAA R rated in the US. The UK home video will be uncut and 18 rated. The same version has been rated 15 by Ireland’s IFCO.

Thanks to Ben who spotted that the same DVD and Blu-ray release shared with the UK has been rated 15 uncut by IFCO. The running time tallies with the uncut version and IFCO comments passed 15 uncut for Strong violence, threat and gory injury. See rating from ifco.ie. Update: The UK release is 18 rated and the Irish 15 rating has been dropped from the cover, maybe it was considered confusing to have both an 18 and 15 rating.

UK Censorship History

BBFC category cuts were required for a 15 rated cinema release in 2018. Uncut and MPAA R rated in the US. The UK home video will be uncut and has been rated 15 by Ireland’s IFCO.

Promotional Material

Bruce Willis stars in Director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city’s violence as it’s rushed into his ER — until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family’s assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grab the media’s attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel…or a grim reaper. Fury and fate collide in the intense action-thriller Death Wish.

Sony have published cover art with an 18 rating for strong bloody violence. There’s no sign of an 18 rated version in the BBFC database, but the disk is clearly intended for international distribution and must surely be the uncut version.

Promotional Material

Synopsis McCall (Denzel Washington) has put his mysterious past behind him and is dedicated to living a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem; if the odds are stacked against them; if they have nowhere else to turn: McCall will help. He is The Equalizer. Special Features Special features are presented in SD or HD resolution. 4K ULTRA HD DISC SPECIAL FEATURES* *Some of the information listed here may not apply to Special Features on the Blu-ray Disc ALL NEW – 5 Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes featuring McCall’s Epilogue teasing THE EQUALIZER 2 A Villain’s Psychosis featurette Boston: On Location featurette A Modern Hero featurette Joining Forces Again: Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua featurette Playing the Part: The Cast of The Equalizer featurette The Home Mart Advantage: The Action of The Equalizer featurette BLU-RAY DISC SPECIAL FEATURES Vengeance Mode with Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua 6 Featurettes Photo Gallery

Sony have published cover art with an 18 rating for strong bloody violence. There’s no sign of an 18 rated version in the BBFC database ,but the disk is clearly intended for international distribution and must surely be the uncut version.

The Daily Mail is hyping some cinema ‘outrage’ about a new children’s film opening this week, Show Dogs . The Mail writes:

Parents have reacted with fury after British cinemas are still showing scenes from Hollywood film Show Dogs that were banned in America months ago because they were deemed inappropriate for children.

The film features scenes touch in hyper sensitivity of PC extremists about consent and touching relating to dogs bollocks.

In one scene the dog has his genitals inspected and is told to go to a zen place and in a later scene urged to overcome his resistance to being touched so he can become a champion.

Moralist campaigners first raised concerns about the scenes in the United States and Global Road Entertainment, who distribute the scene said it decided to remove two scenes from the film ‘Show Dogs that some have deemed not appropriate for children.’

Of course the British ‘outrage’ is pretty minimal and was spotted mostly in a few angry tweets. One mother from north London, who asked to remain anonymous, told MailOnline:

Expecting that the scenes had been cut I didn’t think twice about taking my four-year-old. So it was quite shocking to discover that the scenes appeared to still be in there – with one of the dog characters being coached to go to their ‘zen place when the judges were going to inspect their genitals.

This was repeated a second time towards the end of the film, when the character of Max the dog has the inspection.

It wasn’t a packed viewing but a few of the parents of the younger children immediately covered their ears and asked them to look away.

Annoyed parents have also been in contact with the BBFC about the contentious scenes. The BBFC responded that the scenes are entirely innocent, non sexual and occur with in the clear context of preparing for and judging in a dog show

Thanks to Ben who spotted that the same DVD and Blu-ray release shared with the UK has been rated 15 uncut by IFCO. The running time tallies with the uncut version and IFCO comments passed 15 uncut for Strong violence, threat and gory injury. See rating from ifco.ie

UK Censorship History

BBFC category cuts were required for a 15 rated cinema release in 2018. Uncut and MPAA R rated in the US. The UK home video will be uncut and has been rated 15 by Ireland’s IFCO.

Promotional Material

Bruce Willis stars in Director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city’s violence as it’s rushed into his ER — until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family’s assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grab the media’s attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel…or a grim reaper.

The US Version was shortened by about 15 minutes and was censored to overdub the dig named ‘Nigger’ with the new name ‘Trigger’.The UK Version has continued with the original name but a modern British remake opted for the dog to be renamed ‘Digger’.

The BBFC commented about te name ‘Nigger’ for 2017 cinema and home video release:

One of the main characters owns a dog called ‘Nigger’. The dog’s name is spoken a number of times, without any apparent racist intent, and reflects cultural attitudes of the time that would be unacceptable today. It also reflects the actual name of the real-life mascot of 617 Squadron during World War II.

Promotional Material

A BRAND NEW RESTORATION COMMEMORATING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORIGINAL WWII RAID

A much-loved British classic, Michael Anderson’s 1955 drama captures the tension and bravery of an audacious raid on the centre of Nazi Germany’s industrial complex and the quintessentially English combination of inventiveness and dogged determination.

Split into two distinct sections, the film deals first with the fraught, but the ultimately successful development of a new bomb, by Dr. Barnes N. Wallis(Michael Redgrave). The second deals with the mission itself during the British raid on the Ruhr Dams, and its associated costs for the enemy and for the British airmen.

Tom Jones is a 1963 UK comedy adventure by Tony Richardson.
Starring Albert Finney, Susannah York and George Devine. The BBFC has just made the unusual decision to waive animal cruelty cuts. In this case the cuts were to a cockfight.

The BBFC does seem more likely these days to waive cuts to animal cruelty shown to be staged, but maybe this case is different in that the BBFC commented in 2003 that cuts to Tom Jones were r equired to sight of real animal cruelty (cockfighting).

The BBFC has also uprated the age classification from the previous PG rating to a 12 rating this time.

An upcoming BFI release will feature the Theatrical Version and shorter Director’s Cut and have both just been rated 12 for moderate sex references, violence, language

Censorship History

Passed X uncut by the BBFC for 1963 cinema release. BBFC have required animal cruelty cuts for all releases from 1971 until 2018 when the cuts were waived for home video release. The film exists in a longer original version and a shortened Director’s Cut. Both versions are available MPAA Unrated and so without censor cuts in the US.

Promotional Material

In the early 1960s, at the height of the British New Wave, a movement whose gritty realism they had helped establish, director Tony Richardson and playwright John Osborne set out for more fanciful narrative territory. Tom Jones brings a theatrical flair to Henry Fielding s canonical eighteenth-century novel, boisterously chronicling the misadventures of the foundling of the title (Albert Finney, in a career-defining turn), whose easy charm seems to lead him astray at every turn from his beloved, the wellborn Sophie Western (Susannah York). This spirited picaresque, evocatively shot in England s rambling countryside and featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast, went on to become a worldwide sensation, winning the Oscar for best picture on the way to securing its status as a classic of irreverent wit and playful cinematic expression.

In the US the Original Theatrical Version was uncut and X rated but was soon heavily cut for local censorship requirements and then for a series of attempts made in attaining an R rating. Much of the material cut for an R rating has now been declared lost. In 1986 director Wes Craven assembled his best remaining material previously cut from the film and declared that this version was his Director’s Cut. It was released in the US Unrated by the MPAA.The R rated version was banned from 1974 UK cinema release by the BBFC and the Greater London Council. The film, presumably still in the R rated version was released in the UK when BBFC certificates were not required but it was soon banned as a ‘video nasty’. The BBFC continued its ban with the Unrated version being banned from cinema release in 2000.

In 2001 the DVD was resubmitted and was again banned, but this time cuts were being discussed. A resubmission in 2002 resulted in a BBFC offer of an 18 rating after cuts. The distributors appealed against the cuts but lost their case, and ended up with even more cuts than requested by the BBFC. The film was released in the following year with the same BBFC cuts but in two versions, including an alternative cut called Krug & Co.

By 2008 the BBFC had relented and the film was released without BBFC cuts in both the Unrated Version and the alternative Krug & Company.

The directorial debut of Wes Craven, the man behind such horror favourites as A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes and Scream, The Last House on the Left justly retains its reputation as one of the most harrowing cinematic experiences of all time, nearly half a century on from its original release.

On the eve of her 17th birthday, Mari and friend Phyllis set off from her family home to the big city to attend a concert by shock-rockers Bloodlust. Attempting to pick up some marijuana on the way, the pair run afoul of a group of vicious crooks, headed up by the sadistic and depraved Krug (David Hess). Gagged and bound, the young women are bundled into a car trunk and driven to the woods, where the gang subject them to a terrifying ordeal of sexual humiliation, torture and murder.

Unleashed on an unsuspecting public in 1972, The Last House on the Left shocked audiences with its graphic and unflinching portrayal of interpersonal violence, paving the way for a whole host of cheap imitators looking to capitalise on its success. It is Wes Craven s original alone, however, that remains one of the true watershed moments in horror (and indeed, film) history.

LIMITED 2 X BLU-RAY EDITION CONTENTS

Three cuts of the film newly restored in 2K from original film elements

Original Uncompressed Mono Audio

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

6 x lobby card reproductions

Limited edition perfect-bound book featuring new writing on the film by author Stephen Thrower

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul ShipperDISC ONE THE UNCUT VERSION